Holiday Tech–Digital Photo Ornaments

I love this idea–digital photo ornaments that play a slideshow of up to 50 (8MB) worth of photos. While I’m not sure they will last as long as your favorite traditional photo ornament, it is a clever way to share your favorite pics from the year with family or on your own tree.

Amazon lists several options that are on sale for the holidays (about $20).  Photos are easily downloaded from your computer to the ornament’s 1 1/2″ LED screen.  You can then view photos individually or as a slideshow. Maybe start a tradition of adding a new ornament to the tree each year with your favorite photos from throughout the year.

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Holiday Tech Week–Christmas Light Control

Tis the season to ring up big energy bills! Do you forget to turn off your outside holiday lights before you go to bed? Do you dislike going out in the cold to plug them in every night? Let technology make your life easier and add to your Christmas cheer.

Explore the wide range of timers from 24 hour to 7 day timers available at local home improvement stores. Some are set to come on at a particular time of day. Others come on as the sun goes down. You can also find options with remote controls so you can turn them on when you want, but you still don’t have to go outside to do it.

What’s your favorite holiday tech?

Cyber Monday

After Black Friday, it’s time to gear up for Cyber Monday–the online equivalent of the doorbuster deals in brick-and-mortar stores. If you don’t like fighting the crowds in your town, then getting great deals from your office in your pajamas on Cyber Monday is the sale for you. 

Like Black Friday, there are websites devoted to helping you locate and score the very best deals such as www.cybermonday.com, which is the National Retail Federation’s Shop.org sister site that actually originated the term in 2005. The site will host hourly deals and exclusive promotions in addition to being a clearinghouse for more than 600 retailers.

PC World also has a great article about how to make the most of Cyber Monday. According to them, 84% of online retailers plan to have some sort of sale on Monday, up from last year. For the best deals on computer and tech equipment, they recommend looking for deals on three types of sites: Cyber Monday sites, tech retailer sites and deal aggregation sites.

The NY Daily News compiled this list of 100 budget-friendly sites for Cyber Monday.  Of course, all your favorite retailers like Target, Kmart, and Walmart are sure to have great deals on their sites Monday so get your laptop ready.

Black Friday

Black Friday (the Friday after Thanksgiving that kicks off the holiday shopping season) is nearly upon us. Thanks to over-eager deal seekers you no longer have to wait to get the paper next week to see the greatest sales.  A flurry of sites–www.bfads.net, www.black-friday.net, www.theblackfriday.com, www.tgiblackfriday.com, and www.blackfriday.info.– have popped up to give you the details and even ad scans for all your favorite stores and seasonal must-haves.  (Thanks to Consumer Reports’ Tightwad Tod for the list)

I have to confess that in general I try to avoid the insanity of shopping on Black Friday, but I have ventured out a few times. A couple of years ago I went to Kohl’s on a mission to get a very well priced heated mattress pad. I saw people jumping out of cars on the interstate and darting through chainlink fences to get to the door quicker–insanity. However, I did get my prize–even if it was in the absolute furthest corner of the store from where I came in. 

Happy Hunting!

Shoe Tube

Each year Operation Christmas Child delivers millions of gift-filled shoeboxes to children in countries across the globe. Now families, schools and churches can share their shoebox stories via Shoe Tube.

Samaritan’s Purse began the Operation Christmas Child in 1993 and has shipped more than 60 million boxes to date. This year the goal is 8 million to 100 countries. My son’s preschool collected boxes last week but Nov. 18-24 is National Collection Week.  If you and your family are participating in this activity, tape yourselves putting the box together and post it on ShoeTube.

Need some inspiration–check out BeCentsable’s boxes that she put together for just $5 using deals!  I’ll definitely be using some of these tips next year.

Order Pizza via Tivo

Yes, it’s true. First it was by phone, then by web and mobile and now by Tivo remote.

Just when you thought Tivo couldn’t get any better now you can order your favorite pizza from Domino’s with a few clicks of your remote.  I saw an article on first and then clicked on my Tivo guide. Sure enough, there were the links to order via Tivo.  You simply log in with your Dominos.com user info and then pay by cash when the pizza arrives.

The concept launched this week and is the latest in on-demand living.  Tivo already has partnerships with music providers, Amazon Unbox and Netflix to provide on-demand music and movie service. I wonder what is next?

Google Flu Trends

I think we are just beginning to touch the power of Google. I heard a report on the radio a few months ago about the massive amounts of data that Google processes daily and what could be learned from it. Now it is starting to make small steps into reality. 

Enter Google Flu Trends. Google did an experiment tracking the rise in flu-related search terms and compared to it to CDC tracking reports. The results were strikingly accurate. Not only that–they were 2 weeks ahead of CDC reporting.  The idea is that the number of people searching for flu-related articles and information correlates with people who actually have flu or flu-like illness.

Flu Trends is part of Google.org’s Predict and Prevent initiative to support efforts to :

“identify hotspots where new infectious diseases may emerge, detect new pathogens and outbreaks earlier, and respond quickly to prevent local threats from becoming global crises. “

Now you can use Google’s power to keep an eye on flu trends in your state so you can keep you and your family healthier.

Free calls to Mexico

A dear friend of mine moved to Monterrey, Mexico earlier this year. I miss her a lot, but I am so excited that she has VoIP . 

Because she has Internet phone, I can still call her old number like always and chat with her for more than hour without paying a single long-distance bill. It’s great!  Even though she is half a continent away, she feels so much closer.

VoIP is also great if you are moving across town or across the country, too. With many plans you can have multiple phone numbers for the same line. This way you can have one for your friends in your old town and another for your new pals.

What’s your favorite thing about VoIP?

Crash this party

On top of planning for Christmas, I also have two little boy birthdays coming up in the next few months. Until now I have gotten by with just family get-togethers, but those days are ending soon.

On Skip To My Lou I discovered a fabulous site for party-impaired people like me. It’s called Crash This Party, and it is a site where people post all about their party themes, decorations, menus, invites–the works!

Whether you have upcoming holiday shin-digs or a big birthday party to plan for, this site is a great place to find some ideas and it is free to join.

Of course, another party planning must-have is Evite. It has transformed the way I invite people to parties. Goodbye, stamps!

So, where do you get your party-planning ideas?

I Want My MTV

This isn’t really a clever fix for family life–just a pure indulgence. MTV recently uploaded thousands of vintage videos to its new MTV Music website. Now you can “Party Like Its 1999” anytime.  Enjoy all the old favorites from back with MTV actually played music videos like “Money for Nothing,” “Thriller,” and “It’s the End of the World As We Know It.” Best part–they are all free.

The videos are in h.264 high-def and look and sound incredible considering the age of many of them. In the future they also plan to add the ability for small-time musicians to upload their videos for playback and add video playlisting so you can see all your favorites at a click.  If you’ve been getting your video fix via You Tube, it’s time to upgrade.